Spartacus Burning Questions of the Damned: Who Will Survive the Final Battle?

Friday

Apr 5, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 5, 2013 at 4:22 AM

With Spartacus' latest episode comes a sense of dread because that means there's only one episode left before the end. [Warning: The following contains spoilers from the penultimate episode of Spartacus: War of the Damned. You've been warned!] ...

TV Guide

With Spartacus' latest episode comes a sense of dread because that means there's only one episode left before the end. [Warning: The following contains spoilers from the penultimate episode of Spartacus: War of the Damned. You've been warned!] Spartacus' Manu Bennett on Crixus' downfall On Friday's Spartacus, the rebels celebrated quite a few triumphs, which was swell for them since, of course, history dictates a huge defeat on the horizon. Enjoy it while you can! Not only did they capture and kill Tiberius (Christian Antidormi), the son of Marcus Crassus (Simon Merrells), but the Roman also gave them back 500 rebels who were captured in the final melee with Crixus (Manu Bennett). Among them? Agron (Dan Feuerriegel), whom we thought had fallen in battle. Huzzah! But before we gear up for what promises to be a final, insane confrontation, let's get to this week's burning questions: Will Kore (Jenna Lind) regret returning to Crassus? She probably already is! After killing that rape-monster Tiberius, she traded herself back to Crassus to free the 500 rebels. Unfortunately, he wasn't as forgiving as she'd hoped, ordering her to call him her "dominus," and thus establishing that they are no longer equal lovers, but master and slave. And since this whole war is about toeing that line, we fear that he'll exercise his right over her in the worst possible way. Are Caesar (Todd Lasance) and Kore friends now? While the two certainly share a couple bonds -- both were raped by Tiberius and know that she killed him for it -- Caesar is still an ambitious guy who believes in the ancient Roman caste system. His loyalties ultimately lie with himself and Rome. If pulled into a confrontation between Crassus and Kore, Caesar will heed the man who pays him. Scariest TV and movie serial killers Does Gannicus (Dustin Clare) really miss being a gladiator? The former champion of Capua certainly seemed nostalgic for the good old days, and as he told Sybil (Gwendoline Taylor), it was simpler to know your purpose when standing in an arena: kill or be killed. And although he's the only rebel to have won his freedom from the ring, it never seemed like freedom sat well with him. He drank just as much as ever, never seemed steady of purpose and shies away from being in command. This dude can't commit! Being a gladiator made life simple. How will Naevia (Cynthia Addai-Robinson) avenge Crixus' death? We bet she's kicking herself for a) sparing Tiberius' life only to have b) Kore kill him. Naevia totally deserved that vengeance kill more, but decided to hold back for the greater good. All that restraint for nothing! Sadly, she no longer has a person to target for Crixus' death, so she'll just have to just content herself with killing as many Romans as she can. How did Agron survive the crucifixion? Although types of crucifixion vary, there has been at least one historical account of someone taken down in time to heal. It can take between hours and days to die (it was meant to be a slow, agonizing death), so we're just hoping that Agron's time on the cross was as brief as possible. Who will survive the final battle? Although history hasn't really been rosy about rebel survivors of the Third Servile War (those who didn't die were crucified), some of the characters are purely fictional on this show, and therefore we don't know if they're fated to live or die. We just hope Agron and Nasir (Pana Hema-Taylor) get to grow old together now that we got over the scare of Agron dying (twice!). As for Spartacus (Liam McIntyre) himself, the history books say that his side lost, but his body was never found. TV scorecard: What's canceled? What's renewed? Things That Made Us Go "Ew!" Agron's agony: Watching the giant nails get driven through his hands for the crucifixion was bad, but hearing his screams just made it worse. If that tough warrior couldn't keep quiet, the pain must be unbearable. We can't even imagine what it's like to be suspended in that way. Spartcus' slayings: He first drove one Roman's neck onto two crossed swords -- kind of like a flipped guillotine -- and then with another, Spartacus drove the swords through the back of the skull until the blades sprouted from the Roman's eyes. Gives us a headache just thinking about it. Gannicus decapitates: Yes, you can take off a guy's head using two swords at once, but do you really need to fling the head into the crowd? That is not a fly ball! What did you think of the episode? Spartacus airs Fridays at 9/8c on Starz.

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